Facebook Says It Has Figured Out Mobile. Wall Street Says It Believes Facebook.

You can’t say Wall Street has agreed to forgive and forget its past issues with Facebook. But it’s getting closer: After a very strong Q2 earnings report, investors pushed shares up 17 percent in aftermarket trading.

Facebook is now trading at about $31 a share, nearly as high as it has been all year. That still doesn’t bring it back to the $38 price from its 2012 IPO, but it’s definitely progress.

Big picture: Facebook seems to have answered, at least for now, questions about its ability to handle the shift to mobile: Its users are headed there, and it is showing them ads there, and both usage and ad dollars are up.

Facebook also took pains to explain that it is still totally cool with the kids. Which sounds a bit strained when they say it, but until people can show statistics proving otherwise, investors may cut them some slack.

Usage numbers are great. 699 million average daily users in June. Total time spent: 20 billion minutes each day.

(More apologies. Was busy asking Facebook beat reporter Mike Isaac why he was Tweeting about the call while I covered the live blog for him.)

(Bunch of statistics you do not want to read about in a liveblog. If you are looking for that stuff, by the way, it’s all over here.)

We’re still going to pour a lot of money into capex, Ebersman says. So get used to it. (Google had to explain this to investors for a while, too.)

News Feed ads will be main ad growth engine for rest of the year. But note that they started up a year ago, which means Q3 and Q4 comps will be a little tougher. Okay, analysts? (Guide that number down a bit!)

Also, expenses are going to grow at a faster clip then revenue this year. (Got that, analysts?)

5:25 pm: And now, ladies and gents, here’s Q&A, with Mike Isaac!

3:25 pm: Mike Isaac here, taking over for Peter on the questions from analysts.

3:26 pm: A question from Doug Anmuth on ads.

Basically, is your big ad growth a lot more ads in the feed, or better ad products?

“It’s basically an entirely new market … we’re growing quickly and helping to grow the market.”

I asked about mobile app install ads, too, in a chat with Ebersman earlier. They’re sorta mum on its success specifically, but I hear that developers like them.

3:28 pm: Oh, if you’ve noticed, my time stamp is wonky. That’s because I’m sitting in an airport in Aspen, Colorado, liveblogging from the terminal as my flight has been delayed. Ho hum.

3:29 pm: A question on monetizing Instagram! Please tell us you have something in mind for that pretty photo-sharing app.

3:29 pm: Zuckerberg on Instagram: Non-answer.

Yes, we want to build a business. “Probably through advertising.” But right now they’re focused on just letting the thing grow like crazy.

True. It’s up above 130 MAUs. Pretty crazy.

3:30 pm: Sandberg on growth in ad spend: Yes! Soon!

“I’m a believer that over time, this is where people are spending their time, and any marketer who wants to reach people is going to spend here.”

Fingers crossed, Sheryl.

3:31 pm: Growth is still strong across regions outside of the U.S., Sandberg said.

Particular focus on Asia, seeing increasing adoption in APAC and the rest of the world.

3:33 pm: Sandberg says Facebook exchange is actually a small part of the company’s business. They’re expanding their on-the-ground sales force, too.

3:34 pm: Ebersman chimes in on how much the company is spending.

No end in sight to the amount Facebook is spending to invest in the business.

But he cites being “disciplined” and “focused” in their spending.

In other words, it’s not all kegs and sushi bars for the campus. Lots of smart spending, he says.

3:36 pm: Sandberg: Facebook loves brands. Brands love Facebook.

The end.

3:37 pm: More TV talk in this call. Quite a direct shot over the bow at Twitter, the social company that has long promoted its “second-screen-ness” and complementary nature to television.

3:38 pm: Ebersman again on spending: Hardware costs probably going to go down, but product development is a variable.

5:39 pm: Hello again! It’s Peter Kafka! I’m very excited!

Some talk about lumps and inflections re: mobile.

There was “more feed eligible demand” this quarter, says Ebersman. Yet, price didn’t drop as they sold more ads.

5:43 pm: New question: Five percent of News Feed is now ads. Is that the “right” number and how does that vary across geography? Also a multipart question I didn’t get.

Ebersman: Re: Five percent, it was 0 percent a year ago. We’re happy with it. Varies by geography, and also by person (which maybe explains why I don’t see that many ads in my feed compared to some complainers).

5:45 pm: Q: When are you going to get around to rolling out video ads? Also, what’s going on in Europe?

Sandberg: We totally have video ads — you can embed a video in your post. “We’re exploring how we can expand that” but if you think I’m going to talk about a product we haven’t announced, then I would like to sell you a premium Bebo membership.

5:46 pm: Q: Hey Mark, how do you get partners to participate more actively in your platform? (And not worry you’ll dump them in a year?)

Zuckerberg: We’ve been charging developers for distribution, and they like it. That’s a shift.

5:48 pm: Big picture question for Zuck. How has life/perspective changed since you wrote founder’s letter in your S-1 (14 months ago?)

Zuck: We hit the 1 billion people mark, which used to be a rallying cry. Now we have bigger ambitions. But now, meh. “The real goal is to connect everyone in the world, and map out everything there is.” But! We weren’t happy with mobile 18 months ago, so we had to do a lot of work on it. Coming into 2013, we started to see that we were in better shape.

So: Sort of a big picture answer. But maybe not really?

3:50 pm: Isaac here again!

Sorry about the timestamp.

3:50 pm: I swear we aren’t time traveling.

3:50 pm: Question: Really guys, what ad units made you guys kill this quarter so hard?

AllThingsD by Writer

AllThingsD.com is a Web site devoted to news, analysis and opinion on technology, the Internet and media. But it is different from other sites in this space. It is a fusion of different media styles, different topics, different formats and different sources. Read more »